


To Babysit Royalty

by Odderancy (dreamcatchers_and_chocolate)



Category: Deltarune (Video Game)
Genre: Adoption, Babysitting, Fluff, Gen, Just me doing some healing of my soul, teen papyrus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-11
Updated: 2018-11-11
Packaged: 2019-08-22 04:55:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16591211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamcatchers_and_chocolate/pseuds/Odderancy
Summary: Yeah, sure, Kris had mentioned they had a friend who needed babysitting, but Papyrus hadn't expected to find someone claiming to be a duke on his doorstep, demanding he'd look after a tiny bubble of a prince for the day.





	To Babysit Royalty

"Um, sorry, but who are you?”

Papyrus stared down at the small… bubble grinning up at him from the small staircase outside of their house. Their face was covered by a hood, and they were quite ace-y. A small blue tongue stuck out between their teeth. Next to them, a tall, blue man with white hair, wearing a fancy suit, smiled at him.

“He is Prince Lancer and I amst the Duke of Puzzles, Roulx Kaard. Worm Kris hath said thee shall be babysit the Prince as I wend to see our former Lorde King to receiveth the custody of his son, who shalt soon be mineth,” the tall man exclaimed.

Papyrus’ mouth fell open as he stared at the tall, grinning man. Sure, Kris had said they had a friend who needed babysitting, and he had agreed because of course he always wanted to help, but _what_. As he cleared his throat to gather his words, the duke ushered the kid inside. “Behaveth, Prince.”

The door slammed closed in Papyrus’ face just as the kid stumbled in. Blinking, he rubbed his neck, and turned around to see the kid – Lancer – stare up at him, still grinning widely. He fiddled with the scarf around his neck as he returned the smile, unsure what to do now. He’d never babysat before, and especially not a prince. But he was friends with Kris and Susie so…

“Hello,” he greeted, waving awkwardly. “I’m Papyrus. Papyrus the Skeleton.”

Lancer weighed on his feet, waving back. “You’re a friend of Susie’s?”

“O-oh, yes,” Papyrus stuttered, surprised. “I… think so?” He _hoped_ Susie and Kris considered him a friend, they often were together all three of them, but they’d never _called_ him their friend, so he couldn’t know for sure.

The kid beamed. “Cool! Want to listen to my MP3?”

“Sure!” Papyrus felt his confidence rise as Lancer cheered and bounced over to the black couch, picking up an MP3 from the bag he had slung over his back. With a few long steps, Papyrus sank down next to him, and grabbed the earphone he was handed. A long fart-noise immediately bombarded his hearing, much like his brother’s whoopee cushion.

For a moment, he stiffened, but when he glanced down at Lancer to see if he was teasing him, he found the other staring at him with unbridled delight. Relaxing into the couch, he smiled at Lancer. “You must play this for my brother, Sans. He’d love it.”

“Oh!” Lancer rocked in excitement, and Papyrus’ smile grew. Aw.

Fifteen minutes later, once the mix of cartoon noises finally ended, Papyrus pulled out the earplug. “That was fun!” Lancer chirped like a happy bird, and Papyrus almost cooed. He glanced at the clock. “But it’s time for a snack! What do you want?”

“Worms!”

Papyrus blinked. “Well!” he said, standing up. “I don’t have that! But! I have apple slices and dark chocolate!”

“That’ll do.” Jumping down from the couch, Lancer threw the MP3 on the couch and raced over toward the kitchen. Grinning, Papyrus followed, their footsteps loud against the stone floor.

* * *

Hours later, it knocked on the door. Papyrus twitched, looking away from the racing game he and Lancer were playing, and Lancer cheered as he bypassed Papyrus in his distraction. It knocked on the door again. Lancer yowled in protest as he pressed pause and stood up, stretching his spine. They’d been sitting at the floor the past hour playing, leaning against the couch, and now it ached.

Lancer mashed another fistful of chocolate into his mouth as Papyrus glanced up at the clock. Five PM. Wowie, the other had been here long. It didn’t feel like it. “It’s probably your… the duke,” he said, smiling even as his stomach dropped. He’d had fun. A shame it had to end so soon.

Standing up as well, Lancer nodded, though he glanced back at the game as they made their way over to the front door. Just as it knocked again, Papyrus opened it, and came face to face with the duke, who still had his fist raised. His eyes immediately flickered down to Lancer, who had hid his hands behind his back and grinned up at him with his chocolate-covered mouth.

“Greetings, bastard child, worm,” he said loudly, his expression solemn. Then the seriousness slipped off his face as he knelt before Lancer, and Papyrus couldn’t help his smile as the duke fought his own before eventually giving up and smiling at Lancer. “I amst nay longer thy lesser dad, but thy only father, young prince.”

At first, Lancer didn’t move. He looked like he’d frozen in place, Papyrus noted, his brow wrinkling in concern. Then he let out a small shriek, and the duke stumbled backwards as a small ball of blue threw itself around his neck. Papyrus’ soul skipped a beat as he watched them, his smile so big his cheeks were starting to hurt.

Soon, the kid freed himself slightly, moving so he was sitting on top of one of the duke’s legs. “Does that mean I can use tier two swears now?”

“It doeth not.” Lancer pouted as the duke put him down and stood tall again, towering over Papyrus’ head. “We shall wend home to the Puzzle Residence, Lancer. Sayeth thy goodbyes.”

Lancer twisted around, finger gunning Papyrus. “You’re pretty cool, my sweet peach.”

“You too!” Papyrus replied, waving goodbye and beaming down on Lancer. His soul fluttered at the compliment. He loved compliments! Then he looked back up on the duke, and hesitated for a moment before bracing himself. “Ifyou’rethedukeofpuzzleswouldyouliketolookatsomeofmine.” He inhaled deeply, clasping his hands behind his back as he waited. His soul pounded in his ears as he waited for answer.

The duke’s eyes narrowed as he processed the quick words before he smiled crookedly. “Gladly, friend of worm Kris. I shalt grant thee mine own expertise within the nobleth art of puzzlemaking.”

“Thank you!” He could hardly believe that had worked. He was sure to learn lots from someone with such a title!

The duke grasped Lancer’s hand, and Lancer waved as they stepped down from the porch. Papyrus eagerly waved back.

“I shalt alloweth thee to knoweth at which hour I has’t timeth,” the duke promised, and he nodded happily.

“I look forward to it! Bye, Lancer!” In the corner of his eye, Papyrus saw a shape in the window of the grocery store. Turning his head, he saw Sans watching them – _spying_ at them, grinning. He narrowed his eyes, and after ensuring Lancer wasn’t looking, stuck his tongue out at his older brother.

“Dad! We played a super mega cool racing game!” was the last thing he said before he closed the door behind himself, leaning against it as he exhaled slowly. A whole day of socializing! And it had went well! _Wowie_.

**Author's Note:**

> Decided to publish this here too, even though it was a couple days since I put it out on [Tumblr](http://www.odderancyart.tumblr.com). Please leave a comment if you enjoyed it!


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